Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Nature Recovery

Lord Benyon: Government is committed to delivering large scale, widespread nature recovery across England. We depend on nature for everything – from food, water, and resources to the places we go when we need to relax and recharge - but over the last century, the state of nature in our country has declined dramatically.Our Environmental Improvement Plan, published in January 2023, set out how we will continue to help nature to recover and thrive. We committed to do more to restore the vital habitats that support a huge variety of species, which will help us deliver the ambitious biodiversity targets we have set under the Environment Act 2021.Local Nature Recovery Strategies will be key to our drive to restore nature. The forty-eight responsible authorities, announced today, will lead on the preparation of localised, tailored strategies to support and recover nature, using the best of local expertise in the community. These Responsible Authorities, supported by £14 million government funding, will now begin to engage across their areas to prepare the strategies, working closely with landowners, farmers and land managers. Regulations and statutory guidance setting out the process responsible authorities must follow and what they should include in the strategies were published in March 2023. Delivery of the proposals set out in a local nature recovery strategy will not be directly required but will instead be encouraged by a combination of financial incentives, the support of local delivery partners and broad requirements on public bodies.Alongside Local Nature Recovery Strategies, which will support long term planning for nature, the first round of the Species Survival Fund opens today with an initial £25 million available to projects that will help drive the action we need to halt the decline in species.Taken hand in hand, the Species Survival Fund and Local Nature Recovery Strategies provide opportunities, both in the shorter and longer term, for new and innovative projects to make a real difference, so that communities across England can contribute to nature recovery.This Government is proud of its extensive record on nature & climate. These measures are the latest of many to protect the environment. In just the last six months, we have:- Set legally binding targets to protect our environment, clean up our air and rivers and boost nature.- Announced our Environmental Improvement Plan which sets out delivery plan for building a greener, more prosperous country.- Announced nearly £30 million to support developing countries in delivering the ‘30by30’ land target and…- £5 million for projects which showcase the incredible work underway to study and restore nature across our network of Overseas Territories.- Defra ministers attended the G7 Meeting on Climate, Energy and the Environment in Sapporo, Japan. The G7 leaders agreed a joint statement to tackle global nature loss.- Hosted a major multinational event at Lancaster House in London to drive forward action on the COP15.- £16 million of funding for Local Authorities to support plans to make new housing, industrial or commercial developments ‘nature friendly’- Published the draft Border Target Operating Model setting out the UK Government’s plan to strengthen our borders against biosecurity threats and illegal imports.- New climate change hub launched for forestry sector.- Secured a landmark deal for nature at COP15 in Montreal to protect 30% of our land and ocean by 2030.- England’s national parks were provided with an additional £4.4 million to support services such as visitor centres and park rangers.- Handed over the COP Presidency at the COP27 summit in Egypt as we work to tackle climate change and reverse biodiversity loss.- New Green Finance Strategy and Nature Markets Framework to develop growth of green finance was launched.- Announced £110 million of funding for communities allocated under the Rural England Prosperity Fund.- Announced a ban on the sale of peat-based products in the retail horticultural sector by 2024 this week.- Re-opened grants to boost domestic tree production with £5 million available for free and seed suppliers- Half a million pounds provided to our delivery partners of The Queen’s Green Canopy to fund the planting of trees in communities across the country.- Published the Plant Biosecurity Strategy.- Introduced new powers, including unlimited fines and prison sentences, as part of a crackdown on illegal tree felling in England.- Launched the Great Britain Invasive Non-Native Species strategy.- Opened this year’s round of the Tree Health Pilot - a 3-year scheme which tests different ways of slowing the spread of tree pests and diseases as well as building the resilience of trees across England.- Made £14 million available to allow both local authorities and community groups to access funds for new tree-planting projects.  Local Nature Recovery Strategy Responsible authorityPlanned total LNRS funding for financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 Buckinghamshire Council£238,000Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority£307,974Central Bedfordshire Council£238,000Cheshire West and Chester Council£314,299Cornwall Council£343,692Derbyshire County Council£375,342Devon County Council£388,000Dorset Council£257,647Durham County Council£238,000East Riding of Yorkshire Council£240,747East Sussex County Council£300,740Essex County Council£379,987Gateshead Council£238,000Gloucestershire County Council£271,350Greater London Authority£238,000Greater Manchester Combined Authority£255,535Hampshire County Council£388,000Herefordshire Council£238,000Hertfordshire County Council£240,793Isle of Wight Council£238,000Kent County Council£381,784Lancashire County Council£388,000Leicestershire County Council£337,741Lincolnshire County Council£388,000Liverpool City Region Combined Authority£238,000Norfolk County Council£333,020North Northamptonshire Council£238,000North of Tyne Combined Authority£285,498North Yorkshire Council£388,000Nottinghamshire County Council£285,268Oxfordshire County Council£238,000Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead£238,000Shropshire Council£320,921Somerset Council£310,000South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority£241,265Staffordshire County Council£388,000Suffolk County Council£282,108Surrey County Council£254,844Tees Valley Mayoral Combined Authority£242,285Warwickshire County Council£238,000West Midlands Combined Authority£238,000West Northamptonshire Council£238,000West of England Combined Authority£243,909West Sussex County Council£255,464West Yorkshire Combined Authority£296,911Westmorland and Furness Council£388,000Wiltshire Council£277,813Worcestershire County Council£253,618Total£13,938,555

Treasury

Reforming anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision

Baroness Penn: On the 30 June 2023, HM Treasury published a consultation regarding the reform of the UK’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) supervisory regime. Consulting on and implementing reform of the AML/CTF supervisory system is a key commitment in the Economic Crime Plan 2023-26. It is expected to complement a number of other actions aimed at strengthening the UK’s anti-money laundering regime, and ensuring that businesses most vulnerable to abuse for money laundering or terrorism financing have robust and proportionate controls in place, and are subject to effective supervision. The Treasury’s 2022 Review of the UK’s AML/CTF regulatory and supervisory regime concluded that, while further improvements should be made to the current regime, structural change may be needed to address certain weaknesses. This consultation outlines in more detail four potential models for the future of supervision and seeks to gather evidence on which will best deliver the reform objectives. The first model, OPBAS+, would provide increased powers to the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS). OPBAS was established in 2017 and has made significant progress against its aim of ensuring high and consistent supervisory standards among the 22 Professional Body Supervisors (PBSs) which supervise the legal and accountancy sectors. The second model would consolidate PBSs so that between two and six PBSs would retain responsibility for AML/CTF supervision. The third model would see the creation of new public body. This could take over the AML/CTF supervision of the supervisory populations of PBSs, and potentially some additional sectors currently supervised by HMRC. Alternatively, it could be given responsibility for the AML/CTF supervision of all populations currently supervised by a PBS or by HMRC. This would create a system whereby either three or four public bodies carry out all AML/CTF supervision. Finally, the fourth model would place the AML/CTF supervision of all sectors regulated under the Money Laundering Regulations under the remit of a single public body.These four models represent a commitment to strengthen the UK’s defences against economic crime, responding to calls to address weaknesses in the current system made by stakeholders such as the international AML/CTF standard-setter, the Financial Action Taskforce. The consultation also seeks views on whether there is a case to increase requirements on supervisors and their regulated populations to further support compliance with sanctions.The consultation will be open for three months, closing on the 30 September 2023. After this, the Government will make a policy decision by the end of Q1 2024 on the model which best achieves the reform objectives. Strengthening the effectiveness of the UK’s AML/CTF regime will also support wider public and private sector priorities set out in the Economic Crime Plan 2023-6, such as the reforms of Companies House legislated for through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill. Taken together, these reforms will help to cut crime, protect our national security, and support the UK’s legitimate economic growth and competitiveness.The consultation is published on Gov.UK : https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-anti-money-laundering-and-counter-terrorism-financing-supervision